The present invention generally relates to methods and apparatus for capturing of biometric data. More particularly, the present invention relates to capturing of biometric data using methods and apparatus that are less intrusive or more transparent to the user and can occur with reduced user initiation or knowledge.
For many centuries, the question "Hark, who goes there?" challenged those who approached the castle gates. Was the person a friend or a foe or a subject or a spy? Did they know the secret password or did their messages carry the Emperor's seal? In modern times, the need for security and authentication of transactions are still of great concern and have spawned multi-billion dollar industries. For example, automatic teller machines (ATMs) transactions, credit-card charges, "smart cards" usage, home and industrial security systems monitoring, computer data and applications protection, and the like all require high levels of security.
With the wide-spread use of computers and the Internet, the security of data stored within computers is of increasing concern. Many methods have been devised to restrict the access of computer data or applications to authorized users, such as installing computer firewalls, implementing complex password schemes, using call-back numbers, providing challenge and response hardware, and the like. As illustrated regularly in the popular press, for each such protection mechanism, hackers have found many ways to circumvent them.
A further concern with the wide-spread use of computers and the Internet is the authentication of electronic communications or files. As an example, application files and patches are often available from multiple places on the Internet. Thus, in order to verify that the source of the file is the manufacturer of the software, as opposed to a Trojan horse, or other destructive virus, files are now often encrypted with special keys that uniquely identify the manufacturer of the file. Such schemes have not been widely implemented or uniformly used.
In order to provide a higher level of protection than described above, in addition to password-type schemes above, one technique has been to combine the password-type schemes with biometric user-identifying capturing devices. Biometric Capture is a term used that generally refers to the sensing and conveyance of physical attributes of a user including finger prints, palm prints, voice prints, retinal patterns, facial orientations, body temperature, and the like.
One drawback to present biometric capturing devices is that present devices are not transparent to the user and are inefficient, i.e. they require the user to stop and perform a physical act specifically for the biometric device. Such artificial acts include facing a camera, placing a forehead against a pad so that a retinal image can be captured, placing a hand on a peg board or a finger on a particular surface for a certain amount of time, speaking keywords or phrases, and the like.
Another drawback to present biometric capture devices include that they are typically stand-alone devices having virtually no function other than capturing the biometric data. Because such devices are stand-alone, they are typically only used as gate keeper devices. As a result, when the biometric security device has been satisfied, fulfilled, or bypassed, there is open access to the secure data, the secure area, and the like. For example, once a user has been authorized to enter a security door, the door may be left open for unauthorized users to enter, similarly, when a screen saver password has been entered correctly, the files on the computer may be accessed.
Thus, what is needed are methods and apparatus for capturing of biometric data that are less intrusive or more transparent to the user and provide a higher level of security. Further, what is needed are method and apparatus for more continuous monitoring of biometric data of users of restricted or secure areas for verification purposes.